Rowan and Willow
by Rasa Rainboweyes
Summary: A young girl is surprised when she starts seeing a strange dust around her, but when she accidentaly gets distracted when trying to control it she is thrown into a world she has only dreamt about...


Disclaimer: I do not own any of the places from the Anne McCaffery books, or whatever you recognise from them. The names for the Istan weyrleaders I got from the books, may or may not be real Istan weyrleaders, I haven't read them all yet so don't know.

A/N: Only discovered that you could actually post Anne McCaffery stories recently. This was originally my Original Writing coursework for my GCSE's I got top marks in it so I'm dead proud of it. But still want to know what you lot out there think so please read and review. Oh and Willow and Rowan are mine, as well as Willow's son, who doesn't have a name, please don't use them without permission.

Rowan and Willow

I don't know why I did it. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time and the only thing I could have done. Why did I look at that book though? I should have known better than to get distracted by a book of all things. Though sometimes I think it was my destiny, to be distracted and to disappear, or at least that's what my family thought had happened.

I was 17 and pretty average, for a teenager at least, with short curly black hair that hung to my chin. I wasn't hugely ambitious or intelligent, although I got mainly A's in my GCSE's and was studying A-Levels at college in Liverpool. As I said pretty average. So what was it that made it happen? I don't know. It could have been anything now I think about it.

My parents were happily married, so it wasn't the stress of divorce that did it, my older brother and sister were both successful, having gone to university and then got jobs, it could have been the loneliness of becoming an only child I guess, but I doubt it. I was as untidy as most teenagers, which is why I didn't recognise it sooner. It looked like dust, which was already abundant in my room. When it first appeared, on my 17th birthday, I didn't think much of it at first, I was too busy, but it was there, slowly drifting in the air like sparkling dust that changed colour with the light. It made me jumpy all day, which made many of my relatives, who had come to visit, joke and laugh at me. Everywhere I turned it was there, whether I expected it or not. After a while I began to realise that it gathered around certain things, people, fire, water, rocks, as it spread through the air. That's what made me suspect what it was, fire, air, water, earth. The four Greek Elements, which were supposed to hold great power to control life, so I discovered what it was. Magic!

A few weeks later I was alone in the house, my mum and dad had gone out and apart from my rabbit, nothing was stirring. I had been restless all day, trying to read that fated book that lay on the desk next to my bed, then practising my guitar, which was difficult because every time I looked up to the music I flinched as I saw the magic that swirled around me. Finally giving up I sat on my bed, guitar on my lap and it occurred to me that if this was magic then I could perhaps harness it. So I concentrated and reached out, tentatively at first, and then with more determination. The dust swirled against me, but soon I bent it into a dense ball. I felt a huge sense of euphoria, like last year when Liverpool won the European Cup, for a third time. It was then that I was distracted. I glanced at the book Anne McCaffery's 'Dragon Flight'. The magic escaped my grasp and whirled at extreme speeds around my head and the book. Everything went grey and mind numbingly cold. I fainted.

I came to slowly, my head pounded, my eyes hurt. I didn't understand what had happened. I could hear hushed voices nearby, was I in hospital? But that didn't explain the hard, cold stone beneath me, if I was in hospital I would be on a soft, warm mattress. Where was I? Certainly not in my room. I tried to open my eyes, but the sudden extreme light blinded me and I had to shut them again. The voices stopped.

"I think she's awake A'nor," a female voice said and I felt something cold and damp touch my brow, it felt good and soon the pounding of my head lessened and I tried to open my eyes again. This time a shadow over my face blocked most of the light and I could see, a kindly faced woman stood over me, she had soft brown hair that looked tangled and a worn, slightly grubby face. She smiled.

"Are you alright?" she asked me, her hide clothes made her look like one of the medieval people I had learnt about in history, but I couldn't have gone back in time could I? I nodded in reply, not trusting my voice. She held some form of cup to my mouth and I drank, it tasted like coffee but less strong and without the milk. Unfortunately I didn't like coffee, with or without milk. I coughed and spluttered and the woman took the drink away and offered me another cup, this time with water in it.

"I don't think she likes klah, Cosira," a man's voice said from beyond my line of vision. It was full of humour and I liked the sound of it. I tried to sit up, but it proved too difficult on my own. The woman, Cosira, helped me upright so that I could see who had spoken. I found myself in a cave, about twice the size of my bedroom; a curtain had been pulled away from around the stone bed on which I sat. The bed was in one corner of the room and on the other side was a table with benches. Other than that the room was bare. At the table sat a man, he also had brown hair but his was cut shorter than Cosira's and he was also wearing clothes made from some kind of hide.

"Don't tease A'nor, she's only just awoken, it's probably too strong for her," Cosira said as I gulped down the water, "What's your name child?" she asked. She didn't have any accent that I recognised. Wait until she hears me speak, I thought, I'd better not use my real name just in case.

"Willow," I replied my voice shockingly hoarse. My lips cracked and started to bleed when I opened them, Cosira saw it and put a salve on it that made them go completely numb.

"Well Willow, welcome to Ista Weyr," A'nor said, I nearly fainted again right then when I realised what had happened. I had been sucked into the book! I was on Pern, the world that Anne McCaffery had dreamt. I racked my brains trying to remember who these people were, but I couldn't remember. This mustn't be the same time period as the main story line of the books, which was good, because I had read most of the books and knew what would happen in that time's future.

"I'm Cosira, Weyrwoman and this is A'nor the Weyrleader, have you come for the hatching? Who brought you?" Cosira asked. This made me sure I wasn't in the same time frame as the books, the weyrleader of Ista then was T'gan or something like that, I couldn't remember.

"I don't know. There's a hatching?" I asked. I decided I had better not tell them about my origins just yet. I scanned the room again and caught sight of something that made my heart jump, "My guitar! How did that get here?" I exclaimed and grabbed it checking all the strings were taught and still in tune.

"Are you a Harper then?" A'nor asked, "I don't remember sending for a new one," he looked puzzled as he tried to remember.

"No, I'm not a Harper, I didn't think girls could be Harpers," I said pushing my luck, their reply could tell me when I was.

"No, they can't, as far as I know," Cosira said, "Although they could have changed it," she said. I sighed, that meant it was before the books I had read, at least a couple of hundred turns, to the last pass of the Red Star, the menace of the sky which dropped deadly burning thread on Pern.

"She must have been dropped off by one of the riders for the hatching, maybe she'll impress, but first we have to get her washed and changed," A'nor said. I looked at my clothes and grinned. I was wearing jeans, not something they would recognise. Cosira looked at him annoyed.

"_We_ will be doing nothing, _I_ will help her wash and _you_ will go get her some food," Cosira said, pointing to the door, A'nor grinned at me and left, "Ignore him Willow, come on I'll help you to the bath," she said and lead me to another door. Behind the door was a deep pool of water, which steamed slightly. This was when I realised that since I had awoken I hadn't seen any magic dust. I could never go back home, but for some reason this didn't worry me.

By the time A'nor returned I was washed, dressed in some kind of white dress and sat at the table. He hurriedly placed some food in front of me.

"Be quick eating, Serith says the hatching's going to start soon. Cosira you might want to go down, Beth's getting edgy," he said, helping me to eat. Cosira hurried out of the room. I wondered who Beth and Serith were, were they other riders? I didn't know. I had just finished eating when I heard a low humming sound start. A'nor rose quickly and helped me up. He said the hatching was starting. By this stage I felt much better and could walk through the doorway unaided. I gasped! We were on a ledge, half way up a huge chimney of rock, like an extinct volcano cleared of debris. Up above there was a cluster of rocks, and far into the distance of the sky the shining Red Star. Too far away to pose any danger to Pern or it's inhabitants at this time.

Suddenly I felt the pressure of the air around me change as a great beast appeared on the rock ledge in front of us. A dragon! One of the fabled creatures from my world, which were more than legends on Pern. As long as a jumbo jet and as tall as a double decker bus the dragon in front of us shined a bright, fiery bronze colour.

"This is Serith, my dragon and friend," A'nor said smiling as he stroked the ridges on the dragon just above it's eyes, "Come on I'll help you up, it's the fastest way down to the hatching ground," he said and offered his hand to me. I took it and he helped me up onto the rough, warm back of Serith. He climbed up behind me and gave the order to take off.

Serith's wings spread wide, wider than the largest jet and then they swooped down catching the air beneath them and lifting us up into the sky. We circled once, swooping with a grace I wouldn't have thought possible for such a large creature. I saw other dragons appearing in mid air, from the place I had read about, _between, _then without any warning other than an evil chuckle from A'nor behind me Serith's wings came back towards his body and we shot downwards with huge speed in a dive. It was like being on the tallest, fastest, steepest, roller coaster in the world with nothing but a few shining scales to grip.

I wanted to scream, be sick, anything that would take my mind off the ground that was hurtling towards us, but I couldn't. Just as I thought we were doomed Serith's wings spread wide catching the wind and slowing us enough for Serith to land lightly on the hot, sandy ground. I slid to the ground feeling wobbly and Serith took off again taking A'nor to where Cosira was waiting with another dragon, which, if it was possible, was even bigger than Serith and a burning, brassy gold colour. I glanced around wondering where I was supposed to go. A few metres away from me was a semi-circle of girls standing around a glistening egg, a dragon's egg, and not just any egg, a queen egg, which would hold a female, baby gold dragon. Slightly further away a group of boys stood huddled around a cluster of other eggs, about twenty in total. Beyond them were the dragon riders of Ista Weyr who were waiting patiently. I took my place in the ring of girls, feeling nervous, although thinking back I wondered whether I should have been terrified, considering what was going to happen. Just then the golden egg in front of me started to rock.

Everyone held their breath as deep cracks appeared along the eggshell. Some of the girls broke down and cried they were so terrified. I didn't, I couldn't, I was still numb from the shock being transported to another world. What ever happened here, I was doomed never to see the people I knew again. I didn't care what came out of that egg. Maybe that's what saved me, the fact that I didn't care. When the egg shattered one of the girls screamed. There where the egg had once been stood a small, very wobbly, golden dragon. It looked up at the girls and chirruped. I was transfixed, like all the others, I couldn't hear the shouts from the boys behind me as the other dragons hatched.

The queen jumped at the girl who had screamed, she didn't move fast enough and the little queen cut her badly with her tiny, razor sharp claws. Two other girls tried to run but tripped and fell. The queen looked around, red eyes whirling madly, but I couldn't risk her getting hurt. My feet moved towards her, although I didn't want to. She screamed defiance as I blocked her from attacking the other girls. She leapt at me, claws out stretched. I stepped to the left and grabbed her out of mid air. I gazed into her eyes, which rapidly changed colour from an angry red to a calm blue. They stopped whirling.

"Rowan?" I asked her, I didn't know how I knew, but I did know her name. I still don't fully understand what happened then, nor do I know what happened immediately after that. I was in some kind of trance. My mind couldn't think of anything else but my little queen, Rowan, the rainbow-eyed dragon.

Now as I sit in my weyr at Ista I wonder how I came to be here. I eventually told my friend Cosira some of my past but I don't think she believed me. I figured it out. I'm about 300 years, or Turns, before the books that I read and midway between two passes of the Red Star. I was never able to go back home to Liverpool, but I never forgot my family there. Life has to go on and I was able to adapt to my new life on Pern because of the constant companionship of my dragon. That's why I sit here contentedly and listen to my teenage son play my old guitar as he waits impatiently for the hatching of Rowan's latest clutch. I smile. Whatever happened twenty years ago doesn't matter now, I'm happy and satisfied, though I wish I could see my parents again and tell them I'm ok.

The dragons have just started humming; it's time for my son to impress _his_ dragon.


End file.
